imissicecream, welcome to the forum. It does sound to me like you may be getting worse or flaring right now, but do you think stress could be causing the flare to get worse (on top of not having access to a doctor and different meds)? It sounds like you just moved and started back to school...when I was in college, my Crohn's was flaring from the stress of trying to get good grades on top of working full-time, getting married, etc. You sound like you have a lot going on and stress does definitely play a role in this. Having pain for a few hours a day sounds like a flare to me (or atleast not having the Crohn's under control).
I tried both Entocort and Pentasa (16 pills a day, if I remember correctly) years ago and neither did anything for me. You may just need to try something different, either from your old doctor calling it in to the pharmacy in the meantime, or once you see the new doc. Most docs have an order or pattern they follow in trying meds, starting with the ones that are older (more data on them), cheaper (or more likely to be approved by insurance) and safer (again, this can come down to more data on them) and then moving on to the newer, more expensive stuff if the first options don't work. Like Carnival said, the biologics are normally saved until other options have been tried and didn't work. But, many of us on here are on biologics and have been for a very long time without any side effects (other than maybe an injection site reaction). I personally have more side effects to pills than I do to injections, so to me, biologics are not any more dangerous to my body than any of the other meds. It all depends on how your body responds/reacts to the drugs. So, only you and your doctor can decide when it's time to try something else and what you should try next. It often takes a lot of trial and error to find the right medication or combination of medications, the right dosage, etc. Sometimes it takes trying other GIs also, so maybe your new doc will be able to help you more than your old one did. Good luck! This forum is great for getting information and advice.